Harrison McIntosh

1914Born Vallejo, California

2016 Died Claremont, California

EDUCATION

1938Art Center, Los Angeles, California (now Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, California)

1940University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California

1953Pond Farm Summer Study, Guerneville, California

1949-1952Claremont Graduate School, Claremont, California

PRIMARY WORK EXPERIENCE

1956-1957, 1959Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, California

1968—Studio Potter, Claremont, California

1970-1980Designer, Dinnerware and Crystal, Mikasa Corporation, Japan and Germany

 BIOGRAPHY

Harrison McIntosh's work combines a mid-century modern aesthetic, simple classical forms, and expressionist surface decoration.

A contemporary of Laura Andreson and Gertrud and Otto Natzler, McIntosh was among the first California studio potters to create wheel-thrown stonewares. He studied with Glen Lukens while at the University of Southern California and with Richard Petterson at Claremont Graduate School. In 1953 McIntosh spent the summer at Marguerite Wildenhain's studio, Pond Farm, where he learned the Bauhaus aesthetic. While teaching at Otis, McIntosh met Peter Voulkos who inspired him to use an expressionistic approach to clay. This resulted in the distinctive thin sgraffito lines on his ceramic surfaces. In many cases, he creates a two-tone ribbing pattern or lines based on concentric circles.

His work from the 1980s is characterized by a red clay body. He occasionally made abstract sculptures on wooden or steel bases but he is best known for his symmetrical bowl and jar forms. McIntosh also designed wares for industrial production, including dinnerware for Mikasa.

An interview with Harrison McIntosh conducted February 24-25 and March 3, 1999, by Mary MacNaughton for the Archives of American Art's Oral History Program is available at:  
http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-harrison-mcintosh-11879.